It's nice to see CFL teams actually giving Canadian (and CIS!) quarterbacks a look for once. Shortly after the Hamilton Tiger-Cats added Erik Glavic (of Saint Mary's Huskies and Calgary Dinos fame) to their negotiating list, the Toronto Argonauts announced that they'd signed Queen's Vanier Cup-winning quarterback Danny Brannagan. There's a good piece from Chris Zelkovich in today's Toronto Star on the matter, talking to both Brannagan and Glavic about their invites to the CFL's evaluation camp this past weekend and the proposal that would allow teams to bring a Canadian QB to camp without taking up a roster spot. Of course, this is very early, and there's no guarantee that any of these Canadian quarterbacks will actually get a shot to prove that they belong. Still, progress is always good, and you have to start somewhere. Maybe this can be one of the first steps towards a real evaluation of quarterbacks based on their skills, rather than nationality, combine measurements or college.
[Thanks to Arden Zwelling for the heads-up].
Showing posts with label Calgary Dinos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calgary Dinos. Show all posts
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Underdog Dinos claim national title
The Dinos receive their trophy and CIS banner. [Andrew Bucholtz photo; check out my Facebook profile for more low-quality pictures from the tournament, to be posted Monday night.]
The Calgary Dinos have come a long way in a week. On March 6, they lost a five-set thriller to the Trinity Western Spartans in the Canada West semifinals. They went on to beat Thompson Rivers in straight sets in the bronze-medal match and entered the nationals this week as the sixth seed.
From there, though, things only got better for them; they knocked off the No.3 Dalhousie Tigers in a close five-set match in the quarterfinals, then beat the No.2 Alberta Golden Bears in a five-set semifinal battle and finally got revenge on the Spartans with a four-set victory in the gold-medal match.
Trinity Western head coach Ben Josephson said the Spartans didn't play as well as they could have, but the Dinos turned in a stellar effort.
"A lot of things weren’t quite working the way we wanted, but any time you play a good team, they take you out of a lot of the things you do well," he said. "They made a couple more plays than we did."
Josephson said the Dinos' blocking and passing game in particular was difficult to beat.
"They’re just a really good, stable blocking team," he said. "I felt like our guys were hitting the ball nice and hard, but their blocks slowed it down. They scrambled to the ball real well. I don’t think we matched their defensive intensity in the first half of that match."
Some underdogs in a final would embrace a us-against-the-world mentality, but Dinos' head coach Rod Durrant said his team was confident despite their low seed.
"We didn’t think the seeds meant anything," he said. "We were happy to be here and we knew we had a shot at winning."
Durrant said the talent is pretty evenly spread at the top of CIS volleyball, which means that whoever gets hot at the right time can claim a title.
"I felt everyone coming into the tournament had a chance to win it," he said. "There was no clear-cut favourite."
Durrant attributed his team's success to their self-confidence.
"They believed and they performed as best as they could when they needed to," he said. "I’m so proud of this group of guys. It’s tough to describe."
Durrant said the Dinos showed their ability to battle through adversity.
"They kept believing and kept playing," he said. "To go back to the quarterfinal, we were down 2-0 and they kept believing. To finalize it the way we did is so rewarding."
I've written a lot this weekend about the advantages of facing tough league competition (and conversely, the disadvantages of an easier league). Durrant buys that theory. He said he figures a tough regular-season schedule set his team up well for the nationals.
"Every weekend’s a battle in Canada West," he said. "I think it prepares us very well for this championship. I do think it has a lot to do with it, and I think it’s because there’s a tremendous commitment by the athletes in this conference, and coaches around this conference just prepare their guys. I think we win as a conference."
Durrant's team will experience a fair bit of attrition this summer, as they have several fourth- and fifth-year veterans leaving. He isn't concerned about that yet, though. Instead, he's happy to celebrate a national championship with his veterans (who dumped a bucket of Gatorade on him after the trophy presentation).
"I’m very excited they went out as national champions," he said. "We’ll worry about next year maybe tomorrow."
[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]
Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Battle Of Alberta: Golden Bears vs. Dinos
In an all-Alberta matchup, the University of Alberta Golden Bears will take on the University of Calgary Dinos in tonight's late semi-final. The winner will go on to face Trinity Western in tomorrow's gold-medal game, with the loser taking on Laval for third place. Watch the game on SSN and join in the live blog below!
Conferences, small edges and Canada West
Earlier this week, I wrote a long piece about how the increased availability of athletic entrance scholarships and the increased focus on national recruiting has started to help schools outside of Canada West start to catch up in sports traditionally dominated by western teams. Canada West does still have some edges in scholarships, infrastructure and coaches, but I think the gap is beginning to close a bit.
However, you wouldn't know it from this weekend's CIS volleyball national championships. As I wrote in a feature for the Queen's Journal back in 2008, men's volleyball has been solidly dominated by Canada West since its inception, with the conference claiming the last 15 straight national titles and 37 of the 43 championships that have been held. That pattern hasn't shown any signs of changing so far; there are four Canada West teams here, making up half the field; No. 2 Alberta, No. 4 Trinity Western, No. 6 Calgary and No. 7 Thompson Rivers. Three of the four won their opening games; the only one to lose was Thompson Rivers, who played against Alberta, and they bounced back with a three-set thumping of Dalhousie this afternoon.
The Queen's - Trinity Western game was supposed to be close; that's what you'd expect from a four-versus-five game. It wasn't, though; the Gaels had their moments, but the Spartans won in straight sets. When I spoke to Queen's players and coaches after the game for my recap piece for the Journal, I got some very interesting comments. Consider this one from libero Alex Oneid, who said Trinity Western's speed was one of the main things that threw the Gaels off.
"Their rate of play was pretty similar to ours," Oneid said. "This year, even some of the better teams in the OUA had a slower pace. We came here and we basically saw us, with a little more game experience."
Head coach Brenda Willis offered some thoughts along the same theme.
“I’m not sure things went wrong so much as they went right for Trinity Western," she said. "The tempo of thie offence is something we don’t face in Ontario. We also don’t face that level of serving very much, and I don’t think we passed well enough to run the offence we’re capable of running. They face other teams at that tempo, at that level of serving all the time and we don’t."
Willis said the difference between the teams wasn't so much physical talent as experience against good competition.
"Physically, we matched up very well," she said. "I don’t think we’re too small or too slow. We need to be a little more skilled perhaps and a little more in sync."
Willis said the nationals are a learning experience for the Gaels, with a chance to play some high-calibre teams. She said they have the physical talent to compete with western teams, but they need to work on the small elements of the game against elite competition if they're going to become more precise.
"The biggest thing for us is to go through this tournament learning and getting better so we can go home and realize there’s no big gap, it’s just about getting better in all the areas; faster offence, a little more aggressive defence," she said. "It’s just the little things."
I talked about the importance of regular-season competition a bit in my piece on Dalhousie last night, but I thinks it deserves some more coverage. Queen's doesn't have Dalhousie's problem of not facing high-level teams all year during the regular season, as there are some very good teams in Ontario, including McMaster, Western and Guelph. However, for every match against those teams, they have one against weaker teams like RMC (0-20 this year) or York (4-16). It's tough to learn much from those games, and it's easy to pick up bad habits in them.
Canada West has its own stragglers, like Regina (0-18 this year) and UBC (4-14), but those programs have been good at times, and they're far more the exception than the rule. It's pretty close at the top of Canada West; Thompson Rivers finished sixth during the regular season with a 10-8 mark, but they've done very well at the nationals so far. By contrast, Ontario features less elite teams and many more middling teams. Moreover, the other top-level Ontario teams all have the same problem of playing down to their competition, not being refined by it, so they're not as elite as they might be if they played in a tougher league. This suggests that in CIS sports, it might not be enough just to build your own program into a powerhouse if your league remains at a lower level.
In some ways, this difference might particularly show up in volleyball, where there are so many little changes in serving, passing and attacking styles that can make a big difference. If you're not exposed to the different styles of top teams throughout the season, it's much more difficult to quickly figure out a way to counter them at nationals. There are exhibition tournaments and such that can help with this, and the good programs do make an effort to expose their players to as much competition as possible, but that doesn't make up for a regular season of night-in and night-out battles.
There will be an interesting test of this idea in the 6 p.m. (Pacific) game tonight, with top-ranked Laval taking on No. 4 Trinity Western. Laval is an excellent team and a very physically skilled one. They've also had success at the national level; they finished second in last year's championships, breaking Canada West's streak of seven straight medal sweeps. However, they play in a much weaker league than the Spartans, who were tested night in and night out. Laval will be favoured, and there's a good chance they'll win, but if Trinity does pull off the upset, I'd venture that the strength of their schedule might be part of the reason why.
[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]
However, you wouldn't know it from this weekend's CIS volleyball national championships. As I wrote in a feature for the Queen's Journal back in 2008, men's volleyball has been solidly dominated by Canada West since its inception, with the conference claiming the last 15 straight national titles and 37 of the 43 championships that have been held. That pattern hasn't shown any signs of changing so far; there are four Canada West teams here, making up half the field; No. 2 Alberta, No. 4 Trinity Western, No. 6 Calgary and No. 7 Thompson Rivers. Three of the four won their opening games; the only one to lose was Thompson Rivers, who played against Alberta, and they bounced back with a three-set thumping of Dalhousie this afternoon.
The Queen's - Trinity Western game was supposed to be close; that's what you'd expect from a four-versus-five game. It wasn't, though; the Gaels had their moments, but the Spartans won in straight sets. When I spoke to Queen's players and coaches after the game for my recap piece for the Journal, I got some very interesting comments. Consider this one from libero Alex Oneid, who said Trinity Western's speed was one of the main things that threw the Gaels off.
"Their rate of play was pretty similar to ours," Oneid said. "This year, even some of the better teams in the OUA had a slower pace. We came here and we basically saw us, with a little more game experience."
Head coach Brenda Willis offered some thoughts along the same theme.
“I’m not sure things went wrong so much as they went right for Trinity Western," she said. "The tempo of thie offence is something we don’t face in Ontario. We also don’t face that level of serving very much, and I don’t think we passed well enough to run the offence we’re capable of running. They face other teams at that tempo, at that level of serving all the time and we don’t."
Willis said the difference between the teams wasn't so much physical talent as experience against good competition.
"Physically, we matched up very well," she said. "I don’t think we’re too small or too slow. We need to be a little more skilled perhaps and a little more in sync."
Willis said the nationals are a learning experience for the Gaels, with a chance to play some high-calibre teams. She said they have the physical talent to compete with western teams, but they need to work on the small elements of the game against elite competition if they're going to become more precise.
"The biggest thing for us is to go through this tournament learning and getting better so we can go home and realize there’s no big gap, it’s just about getting better in all the areas; faster offence, a little more aggressive defence," she said. "It’s just the little things."
I talked about the importance of regular-season competition a bit in my piece on Dalhousie last night, but I thinks it deserves some more coverage. Queen's doesn't have Dalhousie's problem of not facing high-level teams all year during the regular season, as there are some very good teams in Ontario, including McMaster, Western and Guelph. However, for every match against those teams, they have one against weaker teams like RMC (0-20 this year) or York (4-16). It's tough to learn much from those games, and it's easy to pick up bad habits in them.
Canada West has its own stragglers, like Regina (0-18 this year) and UBC (4-14), but those programs have been good at times, and they're far more the exception than the rule. It's pretty close at the top of Canada West; Thompson Rivers finished sixth during the regular season with a 10-8 mark, but they've done very well at the nationals so far. By contrast, Ontario features less elite teams and many more middling teams. Moreover, the other top-level Ontario teams all have the same problem of playing down to their competition, not being refined by it, so they're not as elite as they might be if they played in a tougher league. This suggests that in CIS sports, it might not be enough just to build your own program into a powerhouse if your league remains at a lower level.
In some ways, this difference might particularly show up in volleyball, where there are so many little changes in serving, passing and attacking styles that can make a big difference. If you're not exposed to the different styles of top teams throughout the season, it's much more difficult to quickly figure out a way to counter them at nationals. There are exhibition tournaments and such that can help with this, and the good programs do make an effort to expose their players to as much competition as possible, but that doesn't make up for a regular season of night-in and night-out battles.
There will be an interesting test of this idea in the 6 p.m. (Pacific) game tonight, with top-ranked Laval taking on No. 4 Trinity Western. Laval is an excellent team and a very physically skilled one. They've also had success at the national level; they finished second in last year's championships, breaking Canada West's streak of seven straight medal sweeps. However, they play in a much weaker league than the Spartans, who were tested night in and night out. Laval will be favoured, and there's a good chance they'll win, but if Trinity does pull off the upset, I'd venture that the strength of their schedule might be part of the reason why.
[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]
Friday, March 12, 2010
Dalhousie's dominance: is it really a good thing for them?
I was paging through the Dalhousie Tigers' media guide earlier and came across quite an interesting stat. The Tigers have appeared at 31 straight CIS championships. They've won 24 straight Atlantic University Sport championships and 30 of the last 31 (presumably, their other appearance came either when they were hosting or when the AUS wound up with two spots). Current head coach Dan Ota has been there for 11 years and won 11 straight AUS championships; he's also been named AUS coach of the year nine times in that span. Clearly, AUS volleyball is Dalhousie and everyone else.
The question, though, is if that dominance is a good thing or a bad thing for the program. On the plus side, that probably gives them first crack at any Maritime recruits who want to stay in the region. Their almost-guaranteed spot at nationals also can be a significant recruiting advantage, allowing them to draw more national recruits than they probably would otherwise; only three players on the current roster are from the Maritimes, with two from Halifax and one from Newfoundland. The rest are spread out everywhere from Victoria, B.C. to Cobourg, ON. Dalhousie does have a good volleyball program and would draw people even without the guaranteed berth, but it certainly can't hurt their recruiting efforts.
Where it might hurt them, though, is in quality of competition. I'll have more on this later, including Queen's coach Brenda Willis' thoughts on the matter, but for now, suffice it to say that the opponents you play before nationals can make a big difference to how you do once you're there. It's not just in terms of their physical talent, although that plays a role; it's easier to fall into lazy digging habits if the spikes and serves aren't coming hard, and you don't have to execute a hit perfectly if you're up against a shorter blocker.
What may be even more important is the systems. Volleyball is an incredibly tactical game, full of different passing schemes, setting and serving techniques and attack routes, and even minor variations on these can present a problem. If you're playing less-skilled teams all the time, you're probably not going to see as much variety, and you'll be less prepared for what might come your way. Even small changes can have a big effect; a common theme that came up in my conversations with Queen's players and coaches after their loss today was that Trinity Western's fast pace poseed a huge challenge for them. If you're not seeing those kind of different systems from elite competition, you might struggle to adjust to them.
Tonight's game may prove a case in point. The Tigers were seeded third this year and came into the tournament with a strong roster, but after winning the first two sets against Calgary, they started to struggle. The Dinos fought back well, winning sets three and four handily and then knocking off Dalhousie 16-14 in a tight fifth set. Would things have been different if Dalhousie had faced tougher competition throughout the year? We'll never know, but I'd guess they might have.
How has this worked out for Dalhousie overall, though? Well, their results show the same combination of positives and negatives discussed earlier. They've never won a national championship, but they finished second in 1997. Their last four finishes are fourth, fifth, fourth and fifth which seems about right. They always make the dance, and they're rarely the worst team there, but they never seem to quite pull it off, and that lack of elite competition might be a reason why. Still, as a fan or an athletic director, you can make a good case that being there every year might do more for your program and your national profile than making it to nationals a few times during that span and winning once.
[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]
The question, though, is if that dominance is a good thing or a bad thing for the program. On the plus side, that probably gives them first crack at any Maritime recruits who want to stay in the region. Their almost-guaranteed spot at nationals also can be a significant recruiting advantage, allowing them to draw more national recruits than they probably would otherwise; only three players on the current roster are from the Maritimes, with two from Halifax and one from Newfoundland. The rest are spread out everywhere from Victoria, B.C. to Cobourg, ON. Dalhousie does have a good volleyball program and would draw people even without the guaranteed berth, but it certainly can't hurt their recruiting efforts.
Where it might hurt them, though, is in quality of competition. I'll have more on this later, including Queen's coach Brenda Willis' thoughts on the matter, but for now, suffice it to say that the opponents you play before nationals can make a big difference to how you do once you're there. It's not just in terms of their physical talent, although that plays a role; it's easier to fall into lazy digging habits if the spikes and serves aren't coming hard, and you don't have to execute a hit perfectly if you're up against a shorter blocker.
What may be even more important is the systems. Volleyball is an incredibly tactical game, full of different passing schemes, setting and serving techniques and attack routes, and even minor variations on these can present a problem. If you're playing less-skilled teams all the time, you're probably not going to see as much variety, and you'll be less prepared for what might come your way. Even small changes can have a big effect; a common theme that came up in my conversations with Queen's players and coaches after their loss today was that Trinity Western's fast pace poseed a huge challenge for them. If you're not seeing those kind of different systems from elite competition, you might struggle to adjust to them.
Tonight's game may prove a case in point. The Tigers were seeded third this year and came into the tournament with a strong roster, but after winning the first two sets against Calgary, they started to struggle. The Dinos fought back well, winning sets three and four handily and then knocking off Dalhousie 16-14 in a tight fifth set. Would things have been different if Dalhousie had faced tougher competition throughout the year? We'll never know, but I'd guess they might have.
How has this worked out for Dalhousie overall, though? Well, their results show the same combination of positives and negatives discussed earlier. They've never won a national championship, but they finished second in 1997. Their last four finishes are fourth, fifth, fourth and fifth which seems about right. They always make the dance, and they're rarely the worst team there, but they never seem to quite pull it off, and that lack of elite competition might be a reason why. Still, as a fan or an athletic director, you can make a good case that being there every year might do more for your program and your national profile than making it to nationals a few times during that span and winning once.
[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Vanier Cup live blog!
Join me and the rest of the cast from The CIS Blog for a live blog of the Vanier Cup contest between Queen's and the University of Calgary. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Mountain/9 a.m. Pacific.
Friday, November 27, 2009
The Link Train: Grey Cup Special
I've been planning to bring back my regular Link Train feature for some time now,and the amount of great coverage of the Grey Cup out there provides an excellent opportunity. I'll throw in a few Vanier Cup links as well, as I'll be live-blogging that game (from my Calgary hotel room) with the rest of the gang from The CIS Blog tomorrow at 12 p.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Mountain, 9 a.m. Pacific. I'll be back to regular coverage of other sports as well after Grey Cup Weekend.
Song of the Day: U2 - Mysterious Ways
This has always been one of my favourite U2 songs. The rhythm groove of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. fits perfectly with The Edge's guitar work and Bono's vocals. Plus, it was played at CFL commissioner Mark Cohon's press conference this morning, which gave me a great excuse to use it here.
League links:
- David Naylor of The Globe and Mail reports that Argonauts' owners David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski are leaning towards keeping the team, and once again investigating the possibility of playing at BMO Field.
- Vicki Hall of The Calgary Herald has a great piece on former CFL linebacker Jerry Campbell's struggles with concussions.
- Lowell Ullrich of The Province with a story on Ricky Foley being named as top Canadian.
- My page over at CFL.ca, where I weigh in on what makes the CFL and its players unique.
Montreal links:
- Cam Cole of the Vancouver Sun has a nice column on Anthony Calvillo's quest to improve his 1-5 record in Grey Cups.
- Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette on Calvillo's historic repeat as the CFL's Most Outstanding Player.
Saskatchewan links:
- Sean Fitz-Gerald of the National Post on Chris Szarka's successful campaign for Regina city council.
- Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post on how former head coach Kent Austin's impact is still felt.
- Kevin Mitchell of the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix on the rise to prominence of Rob Bagg (who I wrote a sports feature on earlier this year).
Vanier Cup Links:
- Neate Sager with a nice post on the importance of Queen's offensive and defensive lines [The CIS Blog].
- Chris Lund also has some good thoughts on the subject [Always OUA].
- Rita Mingo on Osie Ukwuoma's time at the Stampeders' training camp and how it's improved his play [The Calgary Herald].
- Mingo also talks to former Dinos' coach Peter Connellan, who led Calgary to a Vanier Cup victory over Queen's in 1983. [The Calgary Herald]
- Bruce Dowbiggin talks about the Vanier Cup, TSN and the important role The Score's weekly University Rush broadcasts have played in developing the CIS audience (at the bottom of his column) [The Globe and Mail].
Much more Grey Cup coverage to come later.
Song of the Day: U2 - Mysterious Ways
This has always been one of my favourite U2 songs. The rhythm groove of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. fits perfectly with The Edge's guitar work and Bono's vocals. Plus, it was played at CFL commissioner Mark Cohon's press conference this morning, which gave me a great excuse to use it here.
League links:
- David Naylor of The Globe and Mail reports that Argonauts' owners David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski are leaning towards keeping the team, and once again investigating the possibility of playing at BMO Field.
- Vicki Hall of The Calgary Herald has a great piece on former CFL linebacker Jerry Campbell's struggles with concussions.
- Lowell Ullrich of The Province with a story on Ricky Foley being named as top Canadian.
- My page over at CFL.ca, where I weigh in on what makes the CFL and its players unique.
Montreal links:
- Cam Cole of the Vancouver Sun has a nice column on Anthony Calvillo's quest to improve his 1-5 record in Grey Cups.
- Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette on Calvillo's historic repeat as the CFL's Most Outstanding Player.
Saskatchewan links:
- Sean Fitz-Gerald of the National Post on Chris Szarka's successful campaign for Regina city council.
- Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post on how former head coach Kent Austin's impact is still felt.
- Kevin Mitchell of the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix on the rise to prominence of Rob Bagg (who I wrote a sports feature on earlier this year).
Vanier Cup Links:
- Neate Sager with a nice post on the importance of Queen's offensive and defensive lines [The CIS Blog].
- Chris Lund also has some good thoughts on the subject [Always OUA].
- Rita Mingo on Osie Ukwuoma's time at the Stampeders' training camp and how it's improved his play [The Calgary Herald].
- Mingo also talks to former Dinos' coach Peter Connellan, who led Calgary to a Vanier Cup victory over Queen's in 1983. [The Calgary Herald]
- Bruce Dowbiggin talks about the Vanier Cup, TSN and the important role The Score's weekly University Rush broadcasts have played in developing the CIS audience (at the bottom of his column) [The Globe and Mail].
Much more Grey Cup coverage to come later.
Monday, October 05, 2009
CIS football: Top 10 ballot for Oct. 6
This weekend saw plenty of turmoil in CIS football, with No. 1 Laval, No. 2 Western, No.8 Laurier and co-No.10 Alberta all suffering losses, making the Top 10 perhaps more difficult to analyze than ever. With my natural sense of good timing, I figured it would be the perfect week to start revealing my ballot choices; they'll be easier to mock than ever!
I'm a firm believer that there isn't necessarily a right way to rank the Top 10. It's an opinion poll of people who know a lot about the game, which means that the overall rankings are very valuable in my mind. Each individual voter likely approaches their ballot differently, though, and that's a good thing; it would be an extremely boring universe if we all thought alike. Thus, there are probably plenty of good reasons for anyone to disagree with any individual ballot, but that doesn't diminish the validity of the ballot, the thought and effort that went into it or the importance of the overall rankings. I try to incorporate a best-of-all-worlds approach into my rankings, considering everything from record to previous ranking to strength of schedule to margin of victory to personnel. My Top 10 teams and the rationale for each choice follow below. Also check out Neate's ballot here and Jared's breakdown of the QUFL action here.
1. Queen's (5-0):
Yes, I did go to Queen's, but this isn't a homer pick (although you're welcome to ignore the following rationale and deride it as one if you like); I'm a reporter, not a fan, so I see it as my job to avoid both positive discrimination in favour of the Gaels and negative discrimination against them (being too hard on them in an attempt to prove impartiality). You can make a great argument for any of Laval, Calgary, Montreal or Queen's as the top team overall, but after looking at the Top 10 picture, I concluded that the Gaels fit the bill better than anyone else.
The rationale is simple. For one thing, they're undefeated, while all of those other contenders have at least one loss. A perfect record isn't everything, as St. Francis Xavier is also undefeated (4-0), but the X-Men have only beaten one team with a real case to be included in the Top 10 (No. 9 Saint Mary's, who they knocked off in the first week of the season). Their other wins are a 27-21 victory against Mount Allison (0-4), a narrow 19-17 squeaker over Concordia (1-4) and a 60-7 thumping of Acadia (1-3). By comparison, Queen's has put up a 52-49 win over No. 10 Guelph, a 8-7 victory over McMaster (3-2) where star quarterback Dan Brannagan exited in the second quarter after suffering a concussion and a 20-8 defeat of Ottawa (3-2) without Brannagan playing at all. They also put up blowout wins of 67-0 over York (0-5) and 42-13 over Windsor (2-3), but it's the three impressive victories over teams with legitimate top-10 cases that really convinced me to rank the Gaels here.
By comparison, Laval has two wins over Bishop's (1-4) and a win over Concordia (1-4). Their most impressive win is their 30-8 victory over a banged-up Montreal squad on Sept. 19, and that same team just gave them a 28-7 thumping. Montreal has yesterday's impressive win over Laval and a win over a decent McGill squad (3-2), but their other wins are over Acadia (1-3) and Concordia (1-4), and they have that 30-8 loss to Laval as well. Calgary's most impressive win was their 34-31 victory over Alberta, a team that has cracked the Top 10 but fell to 2-3 this week with a loss to Manitoba. Their other wins are over 2-3 SFU, 2-2 Regina and 1-4 UBC, and they have an overtime loss to Saskatchewan as well.
Out of all the candidates, it seems to me that Queen's has the best resume at the moment, especially considering McMaster's 42-35 win over Western and Ottawa's 27-25 defeat of Laurier. Running back Jimmy Therrien is looking like the second coming of Mike Giffin, and the Gaels also have one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Brannagan and quite possibly the best special-teams threat in the CIS in cornerback/kick returner Jimmy Allin. The defence also hasn't declined appreciably from last year's heights despite the losses of Dee Sterling to the CFL and reigning CIS defensive player of the year Thaine Carter to injury (and Carter may even return down the road) [Mike Koreen, The Kingston Whig-Standard]; they've allowed an average of just 15.3 points per game so far this year against solid competition. If you remove that 52-49 shootout in Week One, which came against one of the most explosive offences in the country in Guelph and while the defence was still adjusting to its new faces, they've allowed just 28 points in their last four games (an average of seven points per game). They have a ways to go, still; they have what should be an easy win against Waterloo this coming week and then two difficult tests against Western and Laurier, but it seems that a second consecutive 8-0 season isn't out of the realm of possibility for the Gaels. Given the flaws in the other top teams, they may be in store for a great postseason as well.
2. Calgary
Apart from Queen's, I figure Calgary has the best case for the top spot based on their body of work.They've beaten good teams in Alberta and SFU and have won decisively against not-so-good teams like UBC and Regina. They have a great dual-threat quarterback in Erik Glavic and a superb running back in Matt Walter, and their defence has looked very solid as well, especially against the run [Lauren Balter, The Ubyssey].The main blemish on their resume is that overtime loss to Saskatchewan, a good team in their own right. I expect Calgary to continue their strong season and come out on top of the Canada West heap.
3. Laval
Some may quibble with ranking Laval above the Montreal Carabins, who just beat them, but these are the juggernaut Rouge et Or, after all. They've dominated CIS football for the last several years, and they lost on the road, without reigning Hec Creighton winner Benoit Groulx (although they did beat a banged-up Carabins squad without him at home earlier in the year). They've been tops on my ballot and in the overall rankings every week this season, and for good reason. It's still a bad loss for them, especially considering the margin of victory, but it's not enough for me to drop them any further than third. I think they're still likely to wind up as Quebec champions, so that's the biggest reason I have them ranked above Montreal.
4. Montreal
Sunday's win was a historic one for Montreal, and proved that Laval is no longer the unquestioned top dog in Quebec. However, the Carabins had a lot of breaks go their way in this one, including the absence of Groulx and home-field advantage. They can hang with Laval and even knock them off if things go their way, but I'm not sure they're likely to beat the Rouge et Or again in the playoffs. They do have a shot, though, which is why I have them at fourth.
5. Western
This is a significant drop for the Mustangs, but I still love the team they have. Michael Faulds is one of the top quarterbacks out there, and the two-pronged rushing attack of Da'Shawn Thomas and Nathan Riva is not to be trifled with. On defence, though, there are more questions after they gave up 42 points to McMaster in a Homecoming loss. The Marauders had hardly been dynamic on offence going into Saturday's game; they did have 49-8 and 52-21 victories against bottom-feeders York and Waterloo, but they only managed seven points against Queen's and 14 against Laurier. They had a field day against Western, though, and that raises questions about how good the Mustang defence is. Western did hold a good Laurier team to seven points earlier this year, but the Golden Hawks are stronger defensively than offensively. The Mustangs also conceded 39 points against Guelph and 17 against Ottawa before Saturday's loss. Don't write off Western yet, though. They face York next week, but the big game for them will be the Oct. 17 showdown with Queen's. At the start of the year, I predicted on Norman James' London radio show that the OUA final would be Queen's - Western, and I haven't seen anything yet to convince me otherwise. That clash could go either way, and the winner stands an excellent chance of making it to the Vanier Cup, so Western is still very much a national title contender in my mind.
6. St. Francis Xavier
Yes, the X-Men are 4-0, and they do have the one impressive win over St. Mary's. It is difficult to rank them in the bottom half of the top 10 when other teams above them have significant blemishes. However, as I mentioned earlier, their schedule hasn't been the most challenging to date. That's not their fault, but it does mean that I have questions about how well they'll do against the top teams, especially considering that they weren't even ranked in the first three Top 10 polls this year. They've been a good surprise so far, but it's a question of if they can keep it up into the AUS playoffs, and if they can match up with other conference champions.
7. Saskatchewan:
The Huskies also have an impressive record, particularly with their overtime win over Calgary. Their loss to a 2-3 Alberta team (but one better than that record might suggest) significantly hurts their standings here, though. They're still very much in the hunt for a Canada West title, but they'll have to take down Calgary to get there. Even if they do pull that off, I'm not sure they'll do as well as the Dinos might against other conference champions.
8. Saint Mary's:
Everyone was expecting the Huskies to come out of the AUS, and they made it as high as No.4 in the poll before their loss to the X-Men. That loss and the weakness of their schedule so far means I can't put them higher than this at the moment, but they're still contenders for the AUS title and they could make some noise in the playoffs.
9. Guelph:
I've been high on Guelph since the start of the season, and so far, they've justified my faith. They have one of the top offences in the CIS, led by quarterback Justin Dunk and running back Nick Fitzgibbon, and they're averaging an incredible 48.2 points per week. Those numbers haven't all been against creampuffs, either; they hung 49 points on Queen's in Week One and put up another 39 against Western on Sept. 26. They also pulled off a nice win over Waterloo this week despite the absence of Dunk for swearing into a TV camera (which my former Queen's Journal colleagues Amrit Ahluwalia and Jake Edmiston debated here) Their defence is cause for more concern, and so is a potential injury to Fitzgibbon [Mark Bryson, Kitchener-Waterloo Record, but Josh McCreight filled in nicely against Waterloo. They also have http://oua.ca/sports/football/results/">a tough next few weeks against Ottawa, Laurier and McMaster, but they look like the best of that close pack at the moment.
10. McMaster:
The Marauders surprised pretty much everyone this week with their win over Western, but their resume actually isn't bad. Yes, their other wins came over York and Waterloo, but they only lost to Queen's by one and they were in the game against Laurier. Moreover, the biggest question mark around them was their offence, and they proved that there's plenty of talent there by hanging 42 points on the Mustangs. They have two relatively easy games against Toronto and Windsor coming up, which should leave them in good shape for the season finale against Guelph.
Also considered: Ottawa, Manitoba, Laurier, McGill
Questions? Comments? Just want to yell at me? Leave your thoughts below, or send them to me by Twitter, Facebook or e-mail.
[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]
I'm a firm believer that there isn't necessarily a right way to rank the Top 10. It's an opinion poll of people who know a lot about the game, which means that the overall rankings are very valuable in my mind. Each individual voter likely approaches their ballot differently, though, and that's a good thing; it would be an extremely boring universe if we all thought alike. Thus, there are probably plenty of good reasons for anyone to disagree with any individual ballot, but that doesn't diminish the validity of the ballot, the thought and effort that went into it or the importance of the overall rankings. I try to incorporate a best-of-all-worlds approach into my rankings, considering everything from record to previous ranking to strength of schedule to margin of victory to personnel. My Top 10 teams and the rationale for each choice follow below. Also check out Neate's ballot here and Jared's breakdown of the QUFL action here.
1. Queen's (5-0):
Yes, I did go to Queen's, but this isn't a homer pick (although you're welcome to ignore the following rationale and deride it as one if you like); I'm a reporter, not a fan, so I see it as my job to avoid both positive discrimination in favour of the Gaels and negative discrimination against them (being too hard on them in an attempt to prove impartiality). You can make a great argument for any of Laval, Calgary, Montreal or Queen's as the top team overall, but after looking at the Top 10 picture, I concluded that the Gaels fit the bill better than anyone else.
The rationale is simple. For one thing, they're undefeated, while all of those other contenders have at least one loss. A perfect record isn't everything, as St. Francis Xavier is also undefeated (4-0), but the X-Men have only beaten one team with a real case to be included in the Top 10 (No. 9 Saint Mary's, who they knocked off in the first week of the season). Their other wins are a 27-21 victory against Mount Allison (0-4), a narrow 19-17 squeaker over Concordia (1-4) and a 60-7 thumping of Acadia (1-3). By comparison, Queen's has put up a 52-49 win over No. 10 Guelph, a 8-7 victory over McMaster (3-2) where star quarterback Dan Brannagan exited in the second quarter after suffering a concussion and a 20-8 defeat of Ottawa (3-2) without Brannagan playing at all. They also put up blowout wins of 67-0 over York (0-5) and 42-13 over Windsor (2-3), but it's the three impressive victories over teams with legitimate top-10 cases that really convinced me to rank the Gaels here.
By comparison, Laval has two wins over Bishop's (1-4) and a win over Concordia (1-4). Their most impressive win is their 30-8 victory over a banged-up Montreal squad on Sept. 19, and that same team just gave them a 28-7 thumping. Montreal has yesterday's impressive win over Laval and a win over a decent McGill squad (3-2), but their other wins are over Acadia (1-3) and Concordia (1-4), and they have that 30-8 loss to Laval as well. Calgary's most impressive win was their 34-31 victory over Alberta, a team that has cracked the Top 10 but fell to 2-3 this week with a loss to Manitoba. Their other wins are over 2-3 SFU, 2-2 Regina and 1-4 UBC, and they have an overtime loss to Saskatchewan as well.
Out of all the candidates, it seems to me that Queen's has the best resume at the moment, especially considering McMaster's 42-35 win over Western and Ottawa's 27-25 defeat of Laurier. Running back Jimmy Therrien is looking like the second coming of Mike Giffin, and the Gaels also have one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Brannagan and quite possibly the best special-teams threat in the CIS in cornerback/kick returner Jimmy Allin. The defence also hasn't declined appreciably from last year's heights despite the losses of Dee Sterling to the CFL and reigning CIS defensive player of the year Thaine Carter to injury (and Carter may even return down the road) [Mike Koreen, The Kingston Whig-Standard]; they've allowed an average of just 15.3 points per game so far this year against solid competition. If you remove that 52-49 shootout in Week One, which came against one of the most explosive offences in the country in Guelph and while the defence was still adjusting to its new faces, they've allowed just 28 points in their last four games (an average of seven points per game). They have a ways to go, still; they have what should be an easy win against Waterloo this coming week and then two difficult tests against Western and Laurier, but it seems that a second consecutive 8-0 season isn't out of the realm of possibility for the Gaels. Given the flaws in the other top teams, they may be in store for a great postseason as well.
2. Calgary
Apart from Queen's, I figure Calgary has the best case for the top spot based on their body of work.They've beaten good teams in Alberta and SFU and have won decisively against not-so-good teams like UBC and Regina. They have a great dual-threat quarterback in Erik Glavic and a superb running back in Matt Walter, and their defence has looked very solid as well, especially against the run [Lauren Balter, The Ubyssey].The main blemish on their resume is that overtime loss to Saskatchewan, a good team in their own right. I expect Calgary to continue their strong season and come out on top of the Canada West heap.
3. Laval
Some may quibble with ranking Laval above the Montreal Carabins, who just beat them, but these are the juggernaut Rouge et Or, after all. They've dominated CIS football for the last several years, and they lost on the road, without reigning Hec Creighton winner Benoit Groulx (although they did beat a banged-up Carabins squad without him at home earlier in the year). They've been tops on my ballot and in the overall rankings every week this season, and for good reason. It's still a bad loss for them, especially considering the margin of victory, but it's not enough for me to drop them any further than third. I think they're still likely to wind up as Quebec champions, so that's the biggest reason I have them ranked above Montreal.
4. Montreal
Sunday's win was a historic one for Montreal, and proved that Laval is no longer the unquestioned top dog in Quebec. However, the Carabins had a lot of breaks go their way in this one, including the absence of Groulx and home-field advantage. They can hang with Laval and even knock them off if things go their way, but I'm not sure they're likely to beat the Rouge et Or again in the playoffs. They do have a shot, though, which is why I have them at fourth.
5. Western
This is a significant drop for the Mustangs, but I still love the team they have. Michael Faulds is one of the top quarterbacks out there, and the two-pronged rushing attack of Da'Shawn Thomas and Nathan Riva is not to be trifled with. On defence, though, there are more questions after they gave up 42 points to McMaster in a Homecoming loss. The Marauders had hardly been dynamic on offence going into Saturday's game; they did have 49-8 and 52-21 victories against bottom-feeders York and Waterloo, but they only managed seven points against Queen's and 14 against Laurier. They had a field day against Western, though, and that raises questions about how good the Mustang defence is. Western did hold a good Laurier team to seven points earlier this year, but the Golden Hawks are stronger defensively than offensively. The Mustangs also conceded 39 points against Guelph and 17 against Ottawa before Saturday's loss. Don't write off Western yet, though. They face York next week, but the big game for them will be the Oct. 17 showdown with Queen's. At the start of the year, I predicted on Norman James' London radio show that the OUA final would be Queen's - Western, and I haven't seen anything yet to convince me otherwise. That clash could go either way, and the winner stands an excellent chance of making it to the Vanier Cup, so Western is still very much a national title contender in my mind.
6. St. Francis Xavier
Yes, the X-Men are 4-0, and they do have the one impressive win over St. Mary's. It is difficult to rank them in the bottom half of the top 10 when other teams above them have significant blemishes. However, as I mentioned earlier, their schedule hasn't been the most challenging to date. That's not their fault, but it does mean that I have questions about how well they'll do against the top teams, especially considering that they weren't even ranked in the first three Top 10 polls this year. They've been a good surprise so far, but it's a question of if they can keep it up into the AUS playoffs, and if they can match up with other conference champions.
7. Saskatchewan:
The Huskies also have an impressive record, particularly with their overtime win over Calgary. Their loss to a 2-3 Alberta team (but one better than that record might suggest) significantly hurts their standings here, though. They're still very much in the hunt for a Canada West title, but they'll have to take down Calgary to get there. Even if they do pull that off, I'm not sure they'll do as well as the Dinos might against other conference champions.
8. Saint Mary's:
Everyone was expecting the Huskies to come out of the AUS, and they made it as high as No.4 in the poll before their loss to the X-Men. That loss and the weakness of their schedule so far means I can't put them higher than this at the moment, but they're still contenders for the AUS title and they could make some noise in the playoffs.
9. Guelph:
I've been high on Guelph since the start of the season, and so far, they've justified my faith. They have one of the top offences in the CIS, led by quarterback Justin Dunk and running back Nick Fitzgibbon, and they're averaging an incredible 48.2 points per week. Those numbers haven't all been against creampuffs, either; they hung 49 points on Queen's in Week One and put up another 39 against Western on Sept. 26. They also pulled off a nice win over Waterloo this week despite the absence of Dunk for swearing into a TV camera (which my former Queen's Journal colleagues Amrit Ahluwalia and Jake Edmiston debated here) Their defence is cause for more concern, and so is a potential injury to Fitzgibbon [Mark Bryson, Kitchener-Waterloo Record, but Josh McCreight filled in nicely against Waterloo. They also have http://oua.ca/sports/football/results/">a tough next few weeks against Ottawa, Laurier and McMaster, but they look like the best of that close pack at the moment.
10. McMaster:
The Marauders surprised pretty much everyone this week with their win over Western, but their resume actually isn't bad. Yes, their other wins came over York and Waterloo, but they only lost to Queen's by one and they were in the game against Laurier. Moreover, the biggest question mark around them was their offence, and they proved that there's plenty of talent there by hanging 42 points on the Mustangs. They have two relatively easy games against Toronto and Windsor coming up, which should leave them in good shape for the season finale against Guelph.
Also considered: Ottawa, Manitoba, Laurier, McGill
Questions? Comments? Just want to yell at me? Leave your thoughts below, or send them to me by Twitter, Facebook or e-mail.
[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Cuts spread to University of Calgary
The University of Calgary announced [Ben Matchett, University of Calgary Sports Information Director] today that they will cut varsity funding [Neate Sager, The CIS Blog] to the men's soccer and women's field hockey teams. There's a chance that those teams could still survive if they're able to raise funds through alternative methods, but it doesn't look good for them. Tennis and golf have also been lowered to competitive club status. By contrast, women's soccer will be returned to fully-funded status and women's hockey is applying to return to CIS play after winning the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference. After the changes, Calgary will have eight fully-funded team sports (men’s and women’s basketball, football, men’s and women’s hockey, women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s volleyball) and fully-funded teams in cross country, swimming, track and field and wrestling.
This isn't all that surprising, as plenty of American and Canadian schools have been moving towards this kind of streamlined program for some time [myself, Queen's Journal]. Two American schools also announced cuts today; the University of Maine axed volleyball and men's soccer [Mike Webster, WCSH6.com] and Wenatchee Valley College (in Washington State) also cut its men's soccer team [Brent Stecker, The Wenatchee World Online]. (Thanks to Austin Winnie for those links, by the way). The economic situation perhaps provided the final impetus to make some of these changes, but things have been moving iin that direction for a while.
It is curious that this move came at Calgary, though. Many of the schools looking at these cuts so far have been in the OUA [myself, Queen's Journal], and have cited the recently increased availability of first-year athletic financial awards as the rationale for their decisions. Canada West has offered these awards for a much longer period of time, so they aren't a sudden or unexpected stress on the department. Instead, Calgary athletic director Kevin Boyles said in the release that the move was made to refocus resources into the more successful programs. The timing is somewhat unusual, though, as Calgary won 12 titles last year, including national titles in women's swimming and women's wrestling as well as Canada West titles in football and men's basketball. It doesn't seem that their current model was terribly flawed from that perspective.
This isn't necessarily a bad move in my mind. Varsity programs need significant resources to be successful, and it's good to see the university attempting to provide those resources. Moreover, men's soccer and women's field hockey haven't been very successful lately at Calgary, and that's the ultimate measurement that has to be used here. It is disappointing to see so many schools viewing men's soccer as an easy cut, though; university soccer is very high-calibre and can often lead to pro contracts for players, such as Trinity Western's Paul Hamilton, who just signed with the Whitecaps [myself, The 24th Minute]. Moreover, soccer's gaining popularity rapidly in Canada, and will only expand further once Vancouver (and potentially Montreal) join Toronto in MLS. Most schools currently don't draw a lot of fans for their soccer games, but that could change dramatically in a few years, by which point it might be desirable to have a soccer team at your university.
One final small point to make here. In his otherwise excellent post on the matter, Neate makes an interesting argument:
"A university doesn't owe people a varsity team. At the same time, it should preserve individual sports such as track, swimming and cross-country for the same reason a school has to have an English or philosophy department. It's sort of central to the idea of university that you offer these sports that might not be sexy, but reveal character and discipline. (Sorry to get so flowery!)"
I agree with the first sentence of that paragraph, but I can't support the rest of it. University sports aren't primarily about participation or learning experiences and individual sports don't reveal any more character or discipline than team sports, at least in my mind. Each sport has its own set of struggles, and athletes in all of them deserve respect. At the end of the day, there's no point in offering sports just for the hell of it. Universities have sports teams so they can go out there and win, earning more exposure and publicity for the school in the process. If I'm running a university sports department, I'm basing my decisions on what teams are likely to win and bring in good publicity, not out of any sense of duty to preserve a sport like track or swimming for aesthetic reasons. Schools should compete in as many sports as they can while maintaining a strong program in each in my mind, and if cuts need to be made to make that a reality, they should be performance-based. It looks like that's what Calgary has done, and they deserve applause for that.
This isn't all that surprising, as plenty of American and Canadian schools have been moving towards this kind of streamlined program for some time [myself, Queen's Journal]. Two American schools also announced cuts today; the University of Maine axed volleyball and men's soccer [Mike Webster, WCSH6.com] and Wenatchee Valley College (in Washington State) also cut its men's soccer team [Brent Stecker, The Wenatchee World Online]. (Thanks to Austin Winnie for those links, by the way). The economic situation perhaps provided the final impetus to make some of these changes, but things have been moving iin that direction for a while.
It is curious that this move came at Calgary, though. Many of the schools looking at these cuts so far have been in the OUA [myself, Queen's Journal], and have cited the recently increased availability of first-year athletic financial awards as the rationale for their decisions. Canada West has offered these awards for a much longer period of time, so they aren't a sudden or unexpected stress on the department. Instead, Calgary athletic director Kevin Boyles said in the release that the move was made to refocus resources into the more successful programs. The timing is somewhat unusual, though, as Calgary won 12 titles last year, including national titles in women's swimming and women's wrestling as well as Canada West titles in football and men's basketball. It doesn't seem that their current model was terribly flawed from that perspective.
This isn't necessarily a bad move in my mind. Varsity programs need significant resources to be successful, and it's good to see the university attempting to provide those resources. Moreover, men's soccer and women's field hockey haven't been very successful lately at Calgary, and that's the ultimate measurement that has to be used here. It is disappointing to see so many schools viewing men's soccer as an easy cut, though; university soccer is very high-calibre and can often lead to pro contracts for players, such as Trinity Western's Paul Hamilton, who just signed with the Whitecaps [myself, The 24th Minute]. Moreover, soccer's gaining popularity rapidly in Canada, and will only expand further once Vancouver (and potentially Montreal) join Toronto in MLS. Most schools currently don't draw a lot of fans for their soccer games, but that could change dramatically in a few years, by which point it might be desirable to have a soccer team at your university.
One final small point to make here. In his otherwise excellent post on the matter, Neate makes an interesting argument:
"A university doesn't owe people a varsity team. At the same time, it should preserve individual sports such as track, swimming and cross-country for the same reason a school has to have an English or philosophy department. It's sort of central to the idea of university that you offer these sports that might not be sexy, but reveal character and discipline. (Sorry to get so flowery!)"
I agree with the first sentence of that paragraph, but I can't support the rest of it. University sports aren't primarily about participation or learning experiences and individual sports don't reveal any more character or discipline than team sports, at least in my mind. Each sport has its own set of struggles, and athletes in all of them deserve respect. At the end of the day, there's no point in offering sports just for the hell of it. Universities have sports teams so they can go out there and win, earning more exposure and publicity for the school in the process. If I'm running a university sports department, I'm basing my decisions on what teams are likely to win and bring in good publicity, not out of any sense of duty to preserve a sport like track or swimming for aesthetic reasons. Schools should compete in as many sports as they can while maintaining a strong program in each in my mind, and if cuts need to be made to make that a reality, they should be performance-based. It looks like that's what Calgary has done, and they deserve applause for that.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Calgary - Concordia live blog
And here's the promised live blog of Calgary-Concordia Final 8 men's basketball! Sorry it took so long; had to fight a vast horde of technical gremlins. Join me and the other CIS Blog guys below.
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